For those young adults in the Seattle area, I will be speaking tonight on "Filling the Void" at Kell's Irish Pub in downtown Seattle. The event is sponsored by the Young Adult Coordinators of the Archdiocese. The event starts at 7pm-- check out Kell's website for directions--

someone gave me this the other morning and i got a big laugh out of it. hope you find some humor in it as well :)

How To Handle Stress...The Right Way

1. Pop some popcorn without the lid on
2. When someone says, "have a nice day", tell them you have made other plans
3. Forget eating right and send yourself candy gram
4. Make a "Things to do list" of things that have already been done
5. Forward all your calls to "Dial-a-Farm-Animal"
6. Put a paper bag on your head and mark it "Closed for Remodeling"
7. Have your name legally changed to "Your Highness"
8. Take $10 out of the church collection basket and put in a note that says
"You owe me, Lord"
9. Write your next important email in pig Latin.
10. Read the dictionary upside down and look for secret messages
11. Bring your kazoo to work and when the need arises, strike up the tune
"Happy Days are Here Again"
12. Bill your doctor for the time you spent in his waiting r…

When choosing a carry-on suitcase, be sure to select one that has a handle which actually extends above your knee level, or else you will have the joyful experience that I had this morning of dragging your darling little suitcase all through the airport, while bending over at a 90 degree angle. what fun! :(

Oh yeah, buying bubble gum and blowing bubbles in public is a sure way to make friends and release stress :)

I woke up this morning with this song in my heart, and I have to admit that, for all intents and purposes, i don't know much! God, our Beloved, is so much bigger and more beautiful than we can ever imagine. Why do we grasp at straws of creation when we can behold the Creator? Such a mystery that we as humans are. But God never gives up on us. Yes, we make mistakes and fall down and do stupid things. But the Divine Lover always seeks us and desires to grow our hearts to receive Him.

Thank you Jesus, for the way you love us. Even when we can't understand it, thank You.

Wishing all of you married couples and dating couples a very happy and blessed Valentine's Day. May your love continue to grow and image the love of God - may your love be one of self-giving, authenticity and fidelity.

Every day that you live out your commitment and choose love, it changes the world. Your family is blessed, your community is blessed and every person in the body of Christ is blessed.

Thank you for your love, commitment and sacrifice.

We pray for you every day.

Here is a beautiful song from Jon Foreman for you :)

In My Arms

Here,
My Dear,
This is where
We'll shake the nightmare free

I dream
To hold you in my arms
I dream
To hold you in my arms
To hold you in my arms
Wide awake
In my arms...

I think I figured it out
We need to be together
Like the shore and the sea

We are not one thing
We're drawn here together
My ocean and me...

I dream
To hold you in my arms
I dream
To hold you in my arms
To hold you in my arms
Wide awake
In my arms...

Lila Rose was interviewed Thursday on the Glenn Beck radio show, speaking about the recent videotapes released revealing more facts that Planned Parenthood is not a defender or protector of women and children.

Sometimes I think we forget that abortion is about people. Real people- like this little one pictured here. People speak of abortion is if it's a political issue or "conservative" issue or religious issue- but what it really is is a human issue about real people.

Every year in America, over 1 million people are "legally" aborted. The actual number is most likely far higher but we know that at least one million people are "legally" killed every year. These completely innocent people are denied their right to life- to live and breathe, to be free and to thrive.

Real people. Gone. God will not recycle them or reincarnate them. This is a tremendous loss to every single one of us.

Yesterday I saw a very beautiful moment between a mother and her child. I watched a woman who was out walking and she was just beginning to show in her pregnancy.

As she was walking and getting some exercise, I watched her place her hands on her womb and connect with her little baby inside. I could see she was protecting her little baby and checking in with her little baby and this woman just radiated beauty. She was so beautiful.

So to all of you women out there who are pregnant or who have experienced the miracle of birth in your body and soul, I say, God bless you!

What Planned Parenthood described as an isolated incident in the case of a manager covering up sex trafficking abuses in unraveling quickly. Workers at three more Planned Parenthood clinics have been caught on videotape willing to help cover up the sex abuse of minors.

Here's a little quote from Planned Parenthood's Founder Margaret Sanger, "The campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics" and "[Our objective is] unlimited sexual gratification without the burden of unwanted children..."

This is absolutely outrageous. Live Action, the courageous pro life group founded by Lila Rose, busted a Planned Parenthood employee who gave a man posing as a pimp advice on how to lie about his sex workers, how to keep underage girls in the sex industry without being reported and where to get abortions for 14 year old girls.

Why isn't this on the evening news? We all know what would happen if this were a religious organization that was videotaped saying the same thing.

Thank you to the anonymous commenter who sent me this link of a video in tribute to the surfer Andy Irons.

Actually, the post about Andy Irons that was added to this blog in November the day after he passed away has been one of my most read posts of all time.

In this video, i find the footage of him surfing to be amazing and beautiful and the words of Andy's brother at the end of video touching and heart wrenching.

Andy was only 32 when he suddenly and unexpectedly passed away, far from friends and family. He and his wife Lindy were awaiting, with much joy, the birth of their first child. A son was born to Andy a month after he died.

Life is a very precious gift, a deep mystery, and it is filled with enigmas that are hard to resolve this side of heaven. Why people struggle or why they suffer or the timing of suffering are realities that often elude us.

I have read many articles about Andy since his death and many of them are written with deep speculation of how he died and what t…